You, always you
by WinterHeir
Summary: A story of a boy and girl in love. [Rated M]


James Potter settled himself on to a chair beside the fire place, yawning loudly as he stretched out his arms and legs. Barely anyone remained in the Gryffindor common room with the exception of Lily Evans, Loraie Creavus, a few year three girls who had seemed to be whispering about his friend, Sirius Black, and himself. James reached in to his bag and grabbed a piece of spare parchment as well as what seemed to be a broken quill; _well this is not going to work very well now is it_, he thought to himself.

"Evans," he began – but Lily was already one step ahead of him, she was levitating a quill right in front of his face. Loraie was as at the beginning of the stairs staring at the pair of them and giggling, Lily stood to follow her.

"Well thanks. . . I guess." James added; his expression full of facetiousness.

Lily beamed at him noticing the look on his face; she strolled towards James her books flooded out of her arms. He stood and brushed the auburn hair out of her eyes then softly pressed his lips to hers. They gave each other a small hug, with the books squeezing in between them. Smiling once more, Lily returned towards the stairwell leading up to the dorms and left James to slump back in his chair.

"Say hi to him from me, Okay?" Lily uttered under her breath once she reached the beginning of the steps. She noticed James looking at her with confusion, as if she of all people had _no idea_ what he was up to.

"How did you kn—"

"The only time you ever seem to write anything is when you write to Sirius" she added, amicably sighing "don't stay up too late though, you have a game tomorrow. Good night!"

James watched her vanish up the staircase; he entirely dismissed the game with Ravenclaw from his mind. Each of his classes had been excused for him and the members of his team on behalf of tomorrow, as the Gryffindor Quidditch team was to spend the day practicing before the match, which was that same evening. Remembering that next year would be his last year at Hogwarts; James laid out a plan to become the Gryffindor team captain, which would then allow him to take his team out of classes for practice as much as he possibly could. Fading back in to reality, he looked down at his piece of parchment and Lily's quill, remembering that he was in need of sleep — James began his letter for Sirius.

Dear Sirius,

Since you have abandoned Remus, Peter and I here at Hogwarts to go on your monthly hunt, which I still do not approve of especially since times just seem to grow grimmer each day, I am forced to write these stupid letters. You have missed out on quite a few things. For one, Peter, has been acting strange! He is always away and trying to avoid me and Remus, who by the way is not all that great either, it's his time of the month soon and you know how shrewish our old maid Remus gets. I did, however, succeed in focusing all of my time on Evans; she passed on a "hello" _by the way._ And yes that girl FINALLY said yes to me, but honestly, who wouldn't? I'm very handsome and smart and great. We all know it. I fairly think my constant _accidental_ bumping into her at the library finally paid off, we_ study_ together now, _you know_, MINUS the studying. She had me swear off poking any fun at crooked nose Severus but I guess I never seem to notice him anymore, he just stares at us whenever we pass by him, it's a little creepy at times. Anyway, Sirius I can barely describe what it feels like to be with her. I think it's head over heels from here, I actually think I may be _falling_ for her. I know the two of us have only been together for three weeks but how can you put a time on something like this? I don't even understand it myself, it's just with her since the day we first met, everything seems to fall right in to place.

When I'm with her, Sirius, it's like I can whisper any of my secrets in to the depths of her hair, tangling one after the other. Knotting them close and bound together. I know that they will never escape her head. She laughs like the little girl I saw on the first day of our sorting, so innocent. The night fades in to her skin and her eyes absorb the first stars of dawn. Though her breath, her breath is each one new and each one old. A memory you would find stored far above in an attic, one which you were not meaning to discover, a surprise that you really were not expecting. Soft and still comes each of her breaths, she can take in any of my words one by one, dissecting each letter and each sound to its raw state. She is always here, holding on to everything I say and I the same to her.

I don't know what it is because I feel so different when I am around her and when I'm without her, it could be the lack of guys around me which just means you need to HURRY UP and come back. Lily says that she has a friend for you, named Loraie, I've seen her and I think you should get your tail over here AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Miss you brother,

James

Finishing off the letter he folded the parchment in to a small square and shoved it in his bag. James reminded himself to remind himself to remember to take it to the Owlery tomorrow morning; he knew that he would not be able to recall anything once he woke up. Lily, on the other hand, would be full of questions first thing in the morning, which would be a good enough reminder for him. James looked around and noticed he was the only one remaining in the common room, it felt so peaceful without anyone there. He wondered for a second where Remus and Peter might have been but the loud snoring that came from inside of a painting, startled him. He started at it, realizing he never really noticed any of the paintings in the common room, an old man in his striped pajamas was sleeping on the floor of his portrait; snoring louder than before. With another yawn, James stood up, threw his bag over his shoulder, strode over to the staircase and climbed the steps to his dorm room in which he had known he would find nothing but empty beds.

"James!" a whisper came from the bottom of the steps but James ignored it, mistaking it for a gush of wind. "Dear Merlin. . . _James_!" it hissed louder.

He dropped his bag on to where he was standing and slowly climbed down the stairs; James noticed the top of a red headed girl he knew was his Lily. He was sure his insides were going to explode once he noticed the pair of shorts she was wearing but he tried his best not to stare at them for too long.

"Naughty, naughty, Evans" he teased "weren't you just heading off to bed and telling me not to stay up too late?"

"Oh — _shut up_," Lily gave his arm a nudge "did you finish off your letter?"

James simply nodded; he was too caught up in Lily's emerald colored eyes, which were reflecting the fire in the common room, to provide her with the full details of his letter. Although he did not really urge to fill her in on what he wrote to Sirius.

"Why do you keep doing that?" she blurted out, commenting on his staring and hiding her face behind her long fingers.

"Because you, Lily Evans, are absolutely beautiful." James grinned at her as she slipped away from him and shuffled off into the common room. "You do realize that it is almost one in the morning?" he pointed out, sitting beside her on the couch that was planted near the stairwell.

"I do" she reassured him.

"So, why are _you_, of all the people in the entire Gryffindor House, up so late?"

"Well − I just could not stay away from you."

"You know, I was thinking the same thing."

They both gazed at each other, mutually bashful and shy yet so at peace with one another's company. Their hands met and there was no need for words or for stories, there was no need for anything more than what was right there in front of them. Somehow, in an abnormal way, everything slowed down. Every breath could be heard from miles away, James came closer to her; placing his arm around her waist and cautiously leaning in to brush her cheek with the soft skin of his lips. Lily lovingly smiled and found her fingers tangled inside of James's dark and messy hair. She inhaled the gulp of air in between them and their lips met in a silent embrace.

Unexpectedly a subtle cough came from the other side of the common room, Lily and James could not have straightened themselves up any quicker. They noticed Mrs. McGonagall glaring at them, James could tell she was not particularly fuming but she was not very satisfied either.

"Miss. Evans, I am hoping that you are well informed of your Transfiguration test in the morning?"

Lily nodded her head shyly, her cheeks matched the color of her hair and her eyes wandered down to her feet.

"Well then, I _assume_ you will be heading to bed now?"

"Yes, yes of course." Lily quickly stole a glance from James, who was attempting to hide his huge grin, and sped up the stairs. James got off the couch and tried a lucky escape until another soft cough emerged from Mrs. McGonagall's direction. He glanced at her; the expression on her face displayed more confusion than the expected fury – which was genuinely confounding for James as she was either very angry at him or extremely angry at him.

"She's such a great girl, James."

"I know."

"I do not think you do." McGonagall sighed and gradually began towards the portrait hole "you better get some sleep, Potter! We have a match to win tomorrow." Reminding him, she disappeared with a swish of the portrait hole and James remained alone.

Moments later, James found himself under the sheets of his bed. He had not even remembered how he succeeded to get himself up the stairs or change out of his robes and relaxingly into his sweats. The only remaining thought which was ticking in his mind had been McGonagall's words; "_she's such a great girl_." Why was she stating the obvious to him? _Of course_ Lily was a great girl, he had already known that, why else would he feel about her the way in which he did. Her other remark followed the same thought, "I do not think you do." That hit him straight in the gut because James gradually began to fathom what McGonagall truly intended to say. He shifted around in his bed, struggling to become at ease with himself, however after realizing there was no use; he laid on his back and stared at the ceiling.

The Great Hall was filled with ravenous voices, half-asleep students and the sweet smell of porridge. James rubbed his eyes together; broom in his hand, his Quidditch robes sluggishly thrown on to his body and he flung himself on to a seat in the middle of the Gryffindor table, dropping his broom onto the floor beside him as his head flopped on top of the empty plate in front of him. Opening his eyes and looking towards the far end of the hall, he noticed that barely anyone was sitting there; he swished his head to look at the other end and found that hardly any of his friends were placed amongst the younger students.

Lily was sitting there; she had been talking to a boy at the Ravenclaw table who had initially begun by sitting behind her. Once Lily noticed James watching her, she gave him a shy wave accompanied with a timid smile and returned to her conversation. This baffled James as every morning for the past week when Lily had seen him, she would make her way towards him and sit by his side; drinking tea while he ate his breakfast.

James attempted to look as if this had no effect on him in any way − he grabbed a piece of toast, swallowed it down with a glass of orange juice and disappeared from the Great Hall, his broom dragging alongside him. He knew that Lily had been watching him leave out of the doors, since that is purely how Lily was; always caring, even when she tried not to. He sauntered through the grounds until finding himself upon the entrance of the Quidditch pitch; which had looked as if it was abandoned. Climbing the stairs towards the highest stand and realizing that it was probably around seven in the morning. James knew that it meant his team mates would not be arriving for the following hour. James sat down and watched the empty field below.

He filled his head with questions, assumptions and predictions for any possibility as to why Lily had given him the cold shoulder this morning. _Had she heard McGonagall last night? Was she still embarrassed about McGonagall finding them alone in the common room? Did he mess something up yesterday? Was she upset about something he did not know of? Had her sister written her yet another nasty letter about how much she hates her or had she not bothered to say anything to her the entire school year?_ The biggest question which kept circling through his head was; _why had she not told him what was wrong? _Lily always did. Especially when it came to James. She knew that he would always listen to her and that he would clasp onto every word of hers because he was more than fascinated in the story, he was absorbed by her. Every letter she uttered James knew that he would never want to let it leave the core of his mind. His heart ached for her, trying to understand everything she says, attempting to keep up with the pace he was not fast enough to follow. Yet she held his hand and guided him through the tunnels, passageways and secret doors straight in to her. James valued that more than anything; he recognized that he never wanted her to leave. Which just seemed to raise his worried state, _had he managed to ruin everything over night?_

James noticed a few heads emerging from the entrance. Observing the sky and spotting the sun being as high as day, he understood that time sailed by as he remained absent in thought. He mounted his broom and flew for the ground towards everyone, trying to increase his speed and dispose of any of his earlier feelings.


End file.
